Trout finding sledding tougher in August

Aug. 26, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Angels' Mike Trout, right, heads for the dugout after striking out against the Detroit Tigers in the eighth inning of a baseball game Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012, in Detroit. Trout went 1-for-4 with three strikeouts in the Angels 5-2 loss to the Tigers. AP

Angels' Mike Trout, right, heads for the dugout after striking out against the Detroit Tigers in the eighth inning of a baseball game Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012, in Detroit. Trout went 1-for-4 with three strikeouts in the Angels 5-2 loss to the Tigers. AP

DETROIT – Looks like the Hall of Famer was right.

When the Angels visited Detroit in July, Angels outfielder Mike Trout got a chance to meet Tigers icon Al Kaline, who had praised the dynamic rookie in the local newspaper.

Kaline, the youngest player in major league history to win a batting title,also had a warning for Trout, saying "it will be a little more difficult in the last couple months of the season" for the rookie.

"I would imagine he knows what he's talking about," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said with a smile. "There's a lot of factors that go into it at times. ... But I trust Al Kaline and his experience on that one."

When he won the batting title as a 20-year-old in 1955, Kaline's average was in the .370s as late as July 16 and he entered August hitting .352. But he won the title with a final average of .340

After going 1 for 11 in his first three games following his promotion from Triple-A in late April, Trout hit for a higher average each of his first three full months in the majors — .324 in May, .372 in June and a torrid .392 in July. He has led the American League in hitting since he reached the required number of at-bats in late June, occasionally by nearly 30 points.

Labeled "Supernatural" on the cover of the current issue of Sports Illustrated, Trout has looked more human this month. He has batted .286 with a growing number of strikeouts, He struck three times Sunday (twice against AL leader Max Scherzer and once against reliever Joaquin Benoit), raising his total for the month to 27 (one short of monthly high of 28 in June with four games to go in August).

He was 0 for 9 before leading off Sunday's game with an infield single, only the third time since his April promotion that he has gone hitless in consecutive games. He has yet to go longer than two consecutive games without a hit this season but is now 1 for his past 13. Trout still leads the AL in batting average. But at .337, it is as low as it's been since the end of June.

"No, it's not," Trout said when asked if he was finding things getting more difficult in the later stages of the season. "It's definitely a long year. You just got to keep your preparation the same, keep playing hard."

Trout said he has seen no change in the approach of pitchers against him as the season has gone on and blamed the strikeouts on "just pulling my head off a little bit."

"For me, it's just about seeing the ball, seeing some pitches," Trout said. "I like taking my first at-bat and seeing as many pitches as I can, seeing what they're throwing, how that pitcher's ball moves, where it's going to break."

Angels first baseman Albert Pujols won a batting title at age 23 in his third season. He agreed with Kaline that the degree of difficulty to maintain that level of performance does increase as the season wears on.

"It does," Pujols said. "Second, third time around, the league knows you better. You have to bear down at a time when your body is starting to wear down because it's a long season. To me, it's more of your body wearing out towards the end of the season.

"I train for that. I train for August and September. Those are the toughest months."

Kaline mentioned specifically the "commotion around him" that will increase for Trout – and already has. Pujols cited that as "a disruption" you have to deal with down the stretch when talk of batting titles and MVP awards increases.

"It can affect you," Pujols said. "You have to separate yourself from that and keep doing what you need to do each day."

Trout has already shrugged off a wave of media hype (cresting with that SI cover) and Scioscia considers the 21-year-old rookie the least of his worries over the final five weeks of the season.

"You're going to have ebbs and flows of a season," Scioscia said. "He's a talented kid. But even young talented kids are going to have ups and downs of a season. As consistent as he's been – which has been remarkable for guys that have seen it every day – there's still going to be those times when you're just a little bit off and hits don't fall in and that kind of stuff.

"For just about the whole season, it's been incredible. Teams have faced him two, three times after that. So it's not like teams haven't made adjustments. I think he's holding up remarkably well."

NOTES

Angels first baseman Albert Pujols missed his fourth consecutive game bercause of the injured right calf. Scioscia said the Angels are "targeting Tuesday" for Pujols' return to the lineup. ...

The Angels will not use the off day Monday to shuffle their rotation, at least not for the Red Sox series. Jered Weaver (Tuesday), C.J. Wilson (Wednesday) and Zack Greinke (Thursday) are lined up to start the three games.

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